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I did have a chance to play it, It's light well built and sounds nice. Sounds great even on an iPhone mic. Video Here -- http://youtu.be/6T1tqtE3Hxo --Guitar center isn't the only place to get, I saw it at Musicians Friend as well

Comment

Hey guys, I was looking for review of this kit last week and happened upon this thread. Turns out I was impatient, and I just bought one of these over the weekend. I gotta say, I love em. I've only lived with them for two days, so take that into consideration with whatever I write here. Also, let it be noted, that I have wanted a small footprint drumkit for a while, either a Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz, or a Sonor jungle kit. But as soon as I saw these Ludwigs I fell in love with the finish and sizes. So, I'm still in the honeymoon phase here, but I'll do my best to give an honest review. There are a few trade-offs for the price related to the hardware which I'll explain below, but overall I'm extremely happy. I even like the snare, and I was not really expecting to.

Pros:

They sound awesome! With new heads (if you can call barely used remo legacy heads from the 90's "new"), the toms really do sing, especially the 13x13 floor tom (it actually took me a while to tune some of the resonance OUT of the drum, but I could have easily used a moongel too), and they have a surprisingly large tunable range. I was able to get a pretty punchy low sound out of everything, though as my 3rd kit, I prefer to tune them into bop/jungle territory.

I haven't replaced the snare head yet, but even with the craptastic factory UC ambassador head (which literally feels like playing my nephews toy drumset) it tunes easily and has good sensitivity and snare response. I expect with a new head it will really sing and feel great.

I also didn't replace the bass drum head, but it actually sounds pretty decent. Basically a powerstroke 3.

The floor tom legs, bass drum spurs, and rack tom hardware are all pretty much rock solid. The tom holder also has a universal accessory clamp that I mounted a short cymbal arm with that easily holds a 20" ride cymbal right where I like it.

The resonant tom heads have no logos on them, but sound fine with the heads that I put on the batter side. They are probably pretty close to a clear diplomat. Kick resonant head sounds and looks great.

I love the color and am a sucker for sparkle finishes.

Cons:

The bass drum riser is a piece of junk, and took a bit of messing with to get it to attatch to the metal bass drum hoops properly. It works, now that it's in place, but I anticipate it causing headaches if I move the kit around a bunch.

The rims on the snare and toms seem kind of thin to me and are not machined or chromed very well. Perhaps the thin-ness of the rims contributes to their tunability though.

Plastic washers on all the tension rods. Fully expecting them to crack within the year if I do any gigging.

Snare strainer, obviously, is a piece of junk, and won't budge if the snares are at tension.

Heads are obviously a joke, but you already knew that.

The Breakbeat logo badges are literally stickers on the drums, and not very well applied. They look cool from a distance, but I can actually feel dirt bumps under the stickers.

Ludwig calls the shell material "hardwood" on their product page, which doesn't tell me anything. The shells are a very light white color, and my best guess is poplar or basswood, but they feel pretty well made. Please tell me what my drums are made of, thanks.

Summary:

for $400, it's a phenomenal little kit, with some understandable tradeoffs. I am definitely happy with them, as it scratches and itch I've had for a while. I plan on using them mostly in my home studio, with a few lighter live performances mixed in there. I can see myself upgrading some of the hardware components (new bass drum riser, wooden bass drum hoops, heavier rims, possibly a new snare strainer) somewhere down the line.

Oh, also, the kit is supposed to come with bags, which I only just found out about now (Sunday, late night). When I bought them off the floor of a busy Guitar Center on Saturday afternoon, the guy was pretty much pushing me out the door, so I will have to hound him about where my bags are. I don't know what they are like, but I'm not expecting much.

My second kit ever was a 1961 Ludwig Keystone Badge "Jazzette" kit. It was 1980 and I found the kit in a closet at a church ... STILL IN THE BOXES! I paid $250 for the entire "new" kit then. It was an 18" bass, 12" tom and 14" floor tom with a 4.5X14 snare. I stupidely traded that kit in 1984 for a pearl rack. WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Love to have that little kit now!

They sounded great and that bass drum was like no other I have ever had since.

So, these small kits are not something new ... just one of those "narrow ties- wide ties" kinda things.